This Too Shall Pass
by moviemagic101
Summary: AU. Paige grew up in a religious household and is dealing with emotions towards herself, and her family. Things are hard enough with out the added confusion of beautiful Emily Fields. All liars will be in it however heavy focus on Paige and Emily. Not sure how or if A will appear/
1. Chapter 1

Changes

"Paige, are you ready yet? Your father is waiting for you to go to church as usual!" The Sunday morning screams were a ritual in the McCullers house over the last couple of years. For as long as Paige could remember she has accompanied her father to church every Sunday. She would help her mom set up for Sunday mass. She would check the books and put all the psalms in order and then her favorite thing would happen; at least it had been her favorite thing. Her mother would return home to go get Paige's little sister ready for church and whatever other issues needed to be ironed out before service which would leave Paige alone with her father, Pastor Jeff McCullers, and he would give his little girl a private run through of his sermon. He used to say that she was his best critic and he could usually gauge the rest of the congregation's reaction off his daughter's overly expressive face.

Growing up she loved the alone time this gave her with her father and how important she felt being his special audience. She felt a closeness to the lessons that were depicted in her father's sermons, she felt like that were directed right to her and because of this she grew up with a deep relationship to god and the religion that her family life was deeply rooted in however recently that same understanding and closeness to the teachings of god has made her hate herself. She started to develop an underlying hatred for that religion and also her family who followed its word so closely, but most of all herself.

As she got older and her body changed so did her thoughts and feelings. No longer had pure or natural thoughts run through the young girls head. She felt less and less like her daddy's little girl and more like the sinners he always talked about. She began to resent her own mind for betraying the word of the god she group believing was the final authority in her life, who was showing her the way to goodness. So Sunday mornings became a reminder of her decent into darkness. Sitting there listening to her father's sermons alone as a judge of the lesson of the week she felt like an imposter. She was sitting in the same spot in which all she felt was undying love from both god and her family she now felt intolerance, refusal of change and prosecution.

Pastor McCullers had noticed the change in his daughter's behavior and even questioned her on the matter but her refusal to talk about it was almost obstinate because of course how could she open up to her father about feelings that went against everything she believed in. So her father stopped waiting for to go to church on Sunday mornings but Paige's mother was almost insistent that Paige go with him even more now hoping someone it would eradicate the change in her daughter's behavior and this morning was no different. Paige began the process of getting ready for Sunday morning mass which changed along with Paige. When she was a little girl there was nothing like putting on her Sunday best and getting gussied up often trying to impersonate her mother. Her closet used to be an array of brightly colored sundresses, frilly skirts and sparkly tops. However not it contained skinny jeans, comic book belt buckles and the array of colors went from sundresses to band and movie t-shirts. Still stuck in the back though deeps within her closet barely visible were a couple of frilly skirts and sundress left over from her mom's constant shopping sprees for Paige insisting she knew exactly what her daughter needed and those were the clothes that Paige was required to wear every Sunday. It was just another way this day forced her out of her element.

It was all very weird to Paige how this began because no matter how much time she spent thinking about it and analyzing it she could not pinpoint the exact moment when all these changed happened but something that she couldn't wait to go to and look her prettiest for was now something she dreaded being a part of. Wearing the clothes her mother made and listening to her father's sermons made her feel like she was spending the day in someone else's skin, in someone else's life even though a short time ago this was the exact life she loved.

To make things worse on this particular Sunday she had to see them, the four girls in her school that every girl wanted to be or befriend and they were Hannah, Aria, Spencer and Emily. Each one was more beautiful than the next making it close to impossible to say which one was the prettiest although if asked Paige she would say that there was something special in Emily Field's eyes.

Besides their obvious beauty they each had their niche in school which they controlled. Hannah was the socialite butterfly who was always ahead of the gossip. Aria was the artistic fashionista who despite wearing some very questionable outfits had everyone talking about the latest styles. Spencer was the brainiac poster child who was literally in charge of every academic club and the there was Emily was the down to earth star athlete who was humble and sweet despite her numerous achievement. Together they ruled the school and made life for Paige McCullers hell.


	2. Chapter 2

Last year was a tough year for the group of girls. During a sleep over the fifth member and leader of the clan vanished during the night. She was missing for close to a year before the body was found and since then life has been a series of adjustments for the girls. Allison was not very well liked and it and seemed like they were getting punished for her sins, and today they knew was going to be one of those days. Her parents had returned from one of their many disappearing trips and decided to have a memorial for their daughter's death today instead of her actual anniversary because of something about a nonrefundable cruise.

So they were all on their way to the local church run by the McCullers family. The daughter Paige had hated Ali the most of everyone in Rosewood high and her hatred had rubbed off onto them now which made this service and outing very uncomfortable. Their had so many brawls both verbal and physical between Ali and Paige that the girls had lost count. The most frustrating thing about the situation was that out of the four of them none of them knew why the rivalry began or what it was about, but for whatever reason Paige was Ali's number one target. They couldn't blame Paige for her animosity but wished she didn't hold them accountable.

Lucky for them she would be the first person they would see on their way to the service. She was leaving her house about to get on her bike when they were passing. She was wearing a pant suit that was sure to wrinkle the moment she got on her bike seat. Paige looked up and when she saw them her movements seemed to increase as way to get away from them. When Emily saw this she too quickened her pace.

"Hey Paige! Wait up a second" Emily called after the girl who was doing her best on a bike in a pant suit and loafers to get away.

The shock of Emily actually calling out to her startled Paige so much she stopped short and tumbled off the side of her bike. Emily ran up to her to help her feeling guilty for startling the girl.

"I don't need your help! I can do it" Paige snapped and the dark haired beauty as she began to pick the bike and Paige off of the ground.

"Fine I was just trying to be nice" Emily said with a biting tone.

"Yeah, I wouldn't be on the floor if it wasn't for you either."

"Sorry" Emily mumbled out realizing Paige had a point.

"So, did you want something?"

"Yeah" Emily paused gathering her thoughts about what she had wanted to say."I just wanted to say I know today is going to be hard for you, memorializing someone who was so horrible to you and I just wanted to say thank you for not telling your father not to do it. I was also going to ask you to walk with us as to not ruin your suit"

Paige was flabbergasted. She couldn't believe one of those girls was being so kind to her and even asking her to join them. All they reminded her of was the horror that Allison DiLaurentis put her through because of a mistake Paige had made freshman year.

"Um sure. just let me put my bike back"

—

The walk to the church was silent Paige had nothing to say to any of the girls and the rest of them did not know how to behave around the girl who had no trouble showing her animosity towards them. When they got their Paige took off in a different direction like she was on fire and water was anywhere they weren't.

The pews were filled a little more heavily today as anything to do with Ali whether she was alive or dead had a flare for the dramatics and everyone wanted a front row view. Pastor McCullers started the mass as an ordinary one his sermon was all about the love and memory of a person who was lost and how that stays with everyone that person touched, an idea Paige did not like to think about when it had to do with Allison. Afterwards he brought up a few guest speakers to speak in memory of Ali. The last of these speakers was Emily Fields.

"I have to say that I never thought that at the age of 17 I would have to speak at the memorial service for one of my best friends. But as I have learned all too well recently tragedy happens and that it is the people around you the help you through it. I want to thank Pastor McCullers for a lovely sermon because it sure does resonate with me especially now. I know Allison was a tough person to love and even harder to get to know and that she made quite a few enemies along the way. Despite the tough exterior Ali was a good friend to go into battle with. She forced you out of your comfort zone, and pushed you to your limits a part our friendship I will always be thankful for.

As Emily spoke her eyes kept connecting to Paige's wide brown eyes that were looking at her with turmoil and confusion. It seemed as if she was hanging on every word that Emily said and she was. The more Emily spoke about Ali the harder it became for Paige to keep down her own memories of Ali and the torment and power Ali wielded over her for months.


End file.
